I got Bird by Bird as a Christmas present several years ago. I enjoyed the first half, but never did finish it. Just kind of lost interest.
On topic, it's kind of the same for editors. It's especially that way in the book business, because you've been working on it for so long. I worked on a textbook for almost a year, and it was nice to see it all pretty and bound and in color, but I'd seen it through every step before that, too, so it was just a nice thing to see the end result, then you move on to the next project. Magazines are a little different, for a couple reasons: it's a much shorter turnaround time (we had a monthly cycle at Electrical Apparatus, and readers and advertisers often call in about things within the last few months (and years, and decades--we've had people call in and say, "I saw an article about such-and-such just a few months ago" and it ends up being an issue from 1988 or something). Especially with advertisers, you have to keep them happy, so it's in your best interest to notices any mistakes that went to press before they do.
I wonder how that's going to be when I start working for Wizards--they do about 70-80 books a year with a staff of 8 in the book department (I think I'll make 9), and they're expanding. With that many books going through, lingering on a recent publication won't happen, I'm thinking (other than, obviously, marketing).